Saturday 21 April 2012

Chelsea Flower Show build up - intro

"Fortune favours the bold" they say.  Well, by that logic I should be exceptionally fortunate as I have committed this week to putting together a stand for this year's Chelsea Flower Show in a total of 5 weeks. That's 35 days in real money.  To put together something that usually takes months of painstaking preparation, including the build.

Squeak.

Still, the opportunity to show our pieces to 147,000 garden fanatics is too good an opportunity to pass up. The response from the artists has been fantastic, there are some truly wonderful pieces to display on the stand.  We've been offered a great plot right by one of the exits from the Great Pavillion in the new 'Fresh' area, a feature new to Chelsea aimed at showcasing innovation and future trends.  Exactly where we want to be.

The Fresh area features 3 tower installations by Jo Chapman

It is a great chance to talk to a large audience about how we are different from traditional galleries and sculpture gardens, engage with industry and clients alike and showcase some smashing pieces of art.  Still, not to over-dramatise, the volume of work needed over the next few weeks will be herculean.  I'll keep you posted of our progress through this blog, for the highs and lows, stresses & celebrations of assembling a show of this scale just keep reading...

If this blog were a film it would now cut to a montage of phonecalls, meetings and stressed looking people hammering nails into pieces wood.  You'll just have to use your imagination for now.